Ch.4: The Bachelorette Bucket List

Yennifer

I lived only a few blocks away from Bourbon Street. It was easier to just walk there instead of fighting traffic for a parking spot.

"Hey girly!" Lucinda called out when she spotted me in front of our favorite bar. The others turned towards me, and we greeted each other. Lucinda gave me a big hug, her shoulder-length blond hair curled and pinned away from her face. She wore a cute little white number with a bright pink sash reading 'BRIDE'. She was gorgeous with her large brown eyes. Around her neck was a pink plastic shot glass that encouraged others to buy her drinks. I grinned and rolled my eyes. She was definitely the party enthusiast in our group.

"Well, don't you look sexy," Charlotte complimented, coming in for a quick hug. She was tall. With natural dark hair and light blue eyes. She had curves for days and was--in my humble opinion--the most beautiful out of the group of girls there. She was dressed in a flashy micro mini dress. She had on killer wedge heels; her hair was done up nicely and she was sporting a smokey-eyed look.

"Thanks." I muttered, embarrassed. Charlotte slipped a sash on me that had the word 'BRIDESMAID' on it.

"Are you ready to help me have the best last weekend of my unmarried life?" Lucinda asked a bit too loudly.

Before letting us answer, she spun around excitedly and fairly skipped into the bar.

"How many drinks has she already had?" I muttered as an aside to Charlotte.

She chuckled as we all followed Lucinda inside. "Who knows? I'm pretty sure she was pre-gaming by noon."

I groaned; this was going to be quite the event. Lucinda was a funny and flirtatious drunk. If anything, I was sure we could make the short walk to my house where she could pass the heck out and sleep off the alcohol if it came to that.

Charlie, her fiancé, was out of town this weekend for his own bachelor party. Next weekend was their wedding. I cringed, knowing I would have to come face to face with Ron at the ceremony. He was a distant cousin on the groom's side, while I was a close friend of Lucinda's. While Ron wasn't part of the bridal party, I was one of Lucinda's bridesmaids. We were both expected at the wedding.

"What would you like to drink, darlin?" Louie, the bartender asked me.

"I'll just have a water please," I told him, hoping the others in the group weren't paying too close attention to the change in my habits. Unfortunately, luck wasn't on my side. All eyes turned to me after Louie walked away.

"Water? Gurl, this is a bachelorette, and we are going to party as such!" Charlotte exclaimed, wrapping her arm around my shoulder.

"Why don't you want to drink, Yen?" Lucinda asked.

I shrugged, trying to buy myself some time. "I just figured it would be best if I stayed sober. Especially with that serial murderer on the loose," I replied, praying the explanation would be good enough. As if on cue, the TV above us played a news clip of the dozens of individuals who had gone missing in the last month.

The girls didn't press. While they may not have admitted it, they were scared--just like the rest of those residing in the town of New Orleans--of the nameless and faceless serial kidnapper and possible killer that was on the loose. 

After the first bar, Lucinda handed out a Bachelorette Bucket List game. I'd had an inkling something like this was going to be on the roster, especially after Lucinda had gone to each of her ladies’ men and asked them point blank if it was okay if we all participated in such a scandalous game. All of our guys told us to have fun on this one night, knowing and trusting all of us to be responsible adults.

Reading through the checklist, I already knew I wasn't going to win. The list included, but wasn't limited to: kissing a stranger, dancing on a table, finding a random pole and giving a show, having a man give you his underwear, and receiving a lap dance. "Whoever gets the most points wins a prize!" Lucinda announced, holding up an envelope.

Whelp, this was one game I wasn't going to win. Though, I would most definitely have a lot of fun watching the other ladies get it on.

As we made our way down Bourbon Street, stopping at every available bar along the way, the ladies did their best to check off as many of the items as possible. I did some of the less risqué ones.

A little over halfway through the night, when all the ladies had had too much to drink and we were making our merry way along to the next bar, being absolutely too loud and obnoxious, I ran headlong into a solid body. Strong hands steadied me while a familiar chuckle sent heat curling through my blood. "We have to stop meeting like this," Nikolai's deep teasing voice reverberated through me.

The air was fairly stolen from my lungs when I looked up into his gaze. While he lived nearby at the De'Aubery Estate, I never thought I would run into him again. Especially like this. Yes, I lived in a very popular part of town, but it was a place where thousands of tourists visited daily. Us running into each other again must be fate's doing.

My cheeks flushed, my gaze dropping while my heart beat a million miles a minute. 

I didn't know what to say. Especially when my unexpected pregnancy came to mind.

Knuckles gently brushed along my jaw before Nikolai curled a few fingers under my chin and lifted my face back up to his. "You okay, lapochka?" He spoke softly, so others couldn't hear. Not only did it feel intimate, I could hear the genuine concern in his voice.

"I-I'm--

I started on a stutter, not sure how to answer that rather deep question.

"Yen!" Charlotte called out, her voice ripping through the moment Nikolai, and I were having. "We were wondering where you disappeared to."

I jerked out of Nikolai's space, turning toward Char as she approached us. Her gaze moved over Nikolai appreciatively, not recognizing him which was surprising. Usually, she was the one who could pick out a familiar face in a crowd.

"Well, hello there handsome," she purred at Nikolai, draping an arm over my shoulders. "What brings you here?" she asked him, puffing out her chest and posing in such a way to put her assets on full display.

To my utter delight, and satisfaction, Nikolai's gaze didn't wander to her. That stormy gaze stayed on mine, sparking with amusement. He knew what game Char was playing and he wasn't interested. Which never happened. Usually, Charlotte was at the center of any man's attention. It was nice being seen by Nikolai and not feeling like I was less of a woman somehow for not having the perfect body.

"Just a night out on the town with the boys," he responded to her question, his gaze never wavering. It was then I noticed the two men flanking Nikolai like shadows. One was tall and lanky with dark hair and dark eyes. He was toned and looked like a tall drink of water. The other was slightly shorter than Nikolai, stalky and very buff. His sandy hair and trimmed beard made his stone-blue eyes pop. Both looked amused by the situation.

"Well, would you mind helping a girl out?" she asked, reaching out her Bachelorette Bucket List card across us so he had no other option than to look at her.

One of the men behind Nikolai growled softly at her rather rude behavior. I knew it was partly due to the alcohol she had consumed.

Nikolai gently pushed her hand away and turned his attention back to me. "Where is your list, lapochka?"

Biting down on my bottom lip nervously, I handed over my list. Beside me, I felt Charlotte's surprise at Nikolai's rebuff. 

"I think we can help with most of these. Aaron. Yuri." Nikolai exclaimed while the other two peeked over his shoulder. "We need condoms."

They all procured condoms. "There are the three you need. I'm sure you can make them into balloons to get that extra point," he winked at me, handing them over before plucking out the pen I had stuck in the messy bun on top of my head. Checking that off, he mused over the others. While this was happening, the rest of my posse joined us, and Char animatedly whispered what she had been witness to so far.

"I've got a tattoo." His wicked smirk had my mind instantly going to the gutter. I remembered seeing a few the other night and had to wonder which he was going to reveal. Reached for the edge of his shirt, I swear I heard my female posse all swoon when he lifted it to show the simple wolf design curving over his left hip bone. The teasing sight of his delectable, toned skin made me want to see him fully undressed again and at the mercy of my sensual desires. Before I could make an idiot of myself, he dropped his shirt and checked that off.

"She needs three phone numbers," Aaron, the stocky one, stated looking over Nikolai's shoulder.

Turning over the card, Nikolai wrote out three numbers. "There's mine, Aaron's and Yuri's." Another checked off.

Yuri chuckled. "Who's going to give her a lap dance?"

"I will." Nikolai said with an undercurrent of heat in his deep baritone. His gaze darkened, and I felt like prey being stalked.

Lucinda and Charlotte both squealed and took out their phones to record this once-in-a-lifetime moment that wouldn't ever happen again if I had any say in it.

Stepping up close to me, he ran a finger up my throat and chin. The caress was gentle, but it left an unfamiliar fire in its wake. "We don't have a chair. Will that be a problem?" He turned to look at the soon-to-be bride.

"No! No, it won't be." She replied excitedly, and a bit too loudly.

"Good." He growled before turning his back to me. And there, in the middle of Bourbon Street, I was a flaming red tomato, hoping the ground would open up and swallow me from this embarrassing moment. A crowd was starting to form, and I hid my face in my hands as I felt him rubbing his glorious ass up against me. He danced around seductively and made teasing touches that reminded me of the passion we had shared before and left me wanting more.

Thankfully, it didn't last long.

He turned around, checking off other items on the list.

"Here's a pair of boxers." Yuri supplied, sidling back up to the group. I hadn't realized he'd snuck away. A smirk crossed his face as he handed the folded item of clothing to me.

I was pretty sure I was the only one who had secured said item from the list.

I pinched the fabric and whispered a sour, "Thanks." What was I supposed to do with these!? At least they weren't ratty and standing up on their own. I hung them on my purse, already trying to eyeball the nearest trash can.

"Two more," Nikolai said, those sultry eyes turning predatory.

Oh hell! I was in trouble of melting into a puddle if he kept looking at me like that. 

Slowly, he stepped into me, his hand gently snaking around my neck to pull me closer and tilt my head back. My heart hammered in anticipation within my chest. Pressed like this against him, I felt myself responding. Unfamiliar, wanton heat curled through my veins.

"Kiss a stranger," he breathed against my lips right before they made contact. I could feel my knees growing weak, and I leaned into him, momentarily disoriented, craving more of him. This wasn't normal or healthy.

While he wasn't a stranger, necessarily, I wasn't going to point it out. We were virtually strangers.

When he pulled away, I was rather disappointed and pouted. Nikolai chuckled, pulling me out of his spell. I jerked away and stood up straight, trying to find the prim and proper in me. "And lastly, I will take this as the article of clothing you leave with a cute stranger." He gently untied the ribbon I had in my hair and wrapped it around his hand. Winking at me, he nodded to Lucinda, said a quick congratulations and disappeared into the night just as mysteriously as he had appeared.